


All Sides Now

by Taste_of_Suburbia



Category: Firefly, Serenity (2005)
Genre: Angst, Dysfunctional Relationships, Families of Choice, Family, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, InShipping, Insecurity, Matchmaking, Multi, Mutual Pining, Points of View, Post-Serenity, Romance, Sibling Incest, Some Humor, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-18 04:44:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4692500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taste_of_Suburbia/pseuds/Taste_of_Suburbia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>River doesn’t mind being in the middle, not if it makes Simon less insecure about what he deserves, not if it makes Mal see that faith in himself isn’t everything. Her men have thick heads, yes, but it’s River’s job to put them in their place a little. River <em>loves</em> her job.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Sides Now

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ViaLethe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViaLethe/gifts).



> Written for ViaLethe for InShipping: Forbidden Families. This was really fun to write, especially the multiple points of view, and I hope it works for you.

Malcolm Reynolds is definitely having an _off_ day.  

First, the job doesn’t go as planned. And believe you me, Mal actually planned this one out meticulously and it still got screwed up by those in his crew who manage to not do a gorram thing he says.

River actually did _good_ this time, not that he doubted she would. She’s really stepped up to the plate since she took over from Wash, less psychotic and more all-around helpful. Her brother’s not too bad either, once he learns to step back and let Mal do his job of being Serenity’s only captain.

Jayne’s bright idea to start shooting up the place the second they sniffed trouble was what gave Mal a planet-sized migraine. As if on cue, River disappears while he’s busy cleaning up Jayne’s mess, and what surprises him the most is how much he misses her company before any reasonable amount of time has elapsed. Shame on him.

It isn’t just that Mal’s proud to have her on his team. He’s mesmerized by her too, by how crazy she’s been yet how smart and intuitive she’s shown herself to be these past months.

He’s still quite not sure how he feels about her brother though. Mal recognizes that he’s kinda cute, even if all they ever do is argue. Their need to protect River usually has the two of them crossing paths more often than Mal likes, yet it’s a fact that he’s come to accept. If River takes off then the two of them are usually off looking for her, Mal shirking his leadership duties and Simon his doctor ones.

At least there’s one thing they have in common. One thing that baffles Mal more and more every day, but only because he lets it.

It doesn’t matter if he’s lying in his bunk and staring up at the ceiling, trying to put his mind at rest and sleep. Or if he’s trying to focus on a job and absolutely doesn’t need any distractions. Or if he knows Simon is with River and that means she’s safe… all Malcolm Reynolds can think about is River Tam. Where she is and what she’s doing and what the hell the girl thinks about and whether or not sometimes she thinks of him. It’s most likely the not part, but a guy can dream.

River doesn’t seem to mind that she’s gained another man in her life to keep an eye on her, maybe because she keeps as careful an eye on the both of them. Mal isn’t quite sure what she has up in her sleeve in the long run, what she hopes to gain by stringing Mal along, thinking he’s too delicate to break free from her charms.

Truth is he really likes River. He suspects it doesn’t just come to a stop with obsession, but he’s not sure if that makes him feel a tad bit better or scares him. He usually doesn’t go for girls about half his age, especially ones with overprotective brothers that he doesn’t quite get along with. But being with River doesn’t necessarily feel _wrong_ , per say, just that he’s walking into territory that he knows will come back to bite him in the ass later, when he’s least expecting it.

River isn’t someone to mess with. She probably knows Mal better than Mal does, probably knows what he’s thinking right now and the sad part is that Mal hopes she can hear what he’s thinking about, because then she can bring it up and _make_ Mal stop thinking about her.

The other truth is that he isn’t sure if like is an accurate description. River drives him so gorram crazy and she knows it. She walks around Serenity in her bare feet no matter how many times Mal tells her to put a pair of shoes on so her feet don’t get cut up. She never registers when they do, blood staining Serenity’s floor as if she _wants_ to leave a permanent piece of herself here, as if she won’t exist if she doesn’t. Simon’s left with the physical mess and Mal with the certainty that River thinks he’s just some joke, or worse, some father figure.

Those bare feet always lead her to Mal though, even when he’s least expecting it, _especially_ then. She’s already waiting for Mal in Wash’s chair whenever he walks in, legs pulled up to her chest and arms wrapped around them, and he knows that she never means to take Wash’s place like that. It’s just what’s happened. Mal never thinks too long about what’s past, he trusts River to know the lines not to be crossed. He trusts her not to take memories and crush them beneath her scabbed toes, the bottoms of her feet as dirty as the thoughts in Mal’s head and the wishes in his heart that he’s never even had the decency to have for Inara.

She’s not where he wants to find her today though. She’s not in that chair, playful eyes also filled with just enough mourning for the both of them gazing up at him. That’s the word too: gazing. He doesn’t know what any of this is, doesn’t know why he walks Serenity searching for her when she’s not around, as if she’s a piece of him that’s been taken and that he needs back.

“Gorrammit.”

“Something wrong, sir?” He doesn’t have to turn around to see that Zoe has followed him without Mal realizing it. He expects her smirk too, but it still surprises him when he turns around to see it against his better judgment. It’s good to see Zoe still smiling, after all that’s happened and after all the two of them have lost. Zoe also tends to know everything that’s going on before even Mal does. “Looking for River?”

Is it too late to convince her otherwise?

He doesn’t try. “Yeah, I uh...,” he brushes a hand through his hair and tries a smile. “Just wanted to congratulate her on her work today.”

“Sure, sir. I’ll let you know if I see her.” She turns on her heel and walks away before Mal can follow up with a response that sounds completely reasonable.

Instead of continuing to stand there like a fool, he figures there’s nothing left to do but head back to his bunker and turn in early for the night. River will no doubt pop up unexpectedly tomorrow, and he can congratulate her then.

What he doesn’t expect is to open the door to find his room already occupied. River Tam is lying in his bed, smiling confidently up at him in that way of hers that makes Mal’s head spin round and round on his neck until there’s stars dancing in front of his eyes. Before the thought fully develops that Simon is going to find out about this somehow and spend his nights thinking about ways to kill the man who supposedly slept with his sister, he senses another person in the room with them and his eyes flick over to see said brother, who is leaning awkwardly against Mal’s dresser, not in the slightest looking at him but pretending that the situation Mal just walked into doesn’t exist.

That’s definitely the response that Mal should be having.

So the panic was the first thing, but then there’s panic _and_ confusion, just so he can put off all those pesky _other_ feelings. There’s the: _Am I missing something here?_ And: _This is my room, right?_ Then there’s the: _Please don’t let me be dreaming._

Thinking it the best course of action before he does something foolish, he steps outside into the hallway and then walks back inside again, confirming that this is, indeed, his room, and that it is his once troublesome passengers that are intruding and certainly not him. He stares at River openly, challenging her to explain herself. It’s only then that she pulls down the sheets that she’s under, Mal’s sheets, and fully exposes herself.

Did he mention that she’s completely naked yet?

* * *

Simon never quite agreed to this. There was non-physical consent of some sort, if you’re counting that, but nowhere during the course of River’s poking and prodding does he open his mouth and say ‘yes, absolutely, you’re right, whatever you want.’ Even if it is whatever she wants, even if everything _is_ always unspoken between them.

River’s twisting the fact that she knows Simon won’t say no. Not to this.

If you asked River what she thought she was doing, then she would merely shrug her shoulders and stick her tongue out at Simon and he would know that any protests that could come out would feel utterly short. She knows he likes Mal. She says that she sees the way he looks at him, even if Simon doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

She knows that her own brother argues with their captain so that he can have Mal’s eyes on him. So that he can get at least _some_ of his time. By the look in her eyes, she must know his dreams too. The ones that involve him groping Mal in every place he’ll never be able to in real life, which is the only place that matters. Mal’s eyes on him so real and so different than the times he glares at Simon with anger and irritation.

She’s playing both of them, he knows that. Still, he follows River into Mal’s room and kisses her just as eagerly as he always does, so grateful to have her in his life that he won’t think twice about loving his own sister, about _making_ love to his own sister. If she wants to make a statement in front of Mal then he’ll follow her lead. He’s come to believe that River does know what she’s doing most of the time. In the moments that matter anyway. What he needs to have is trust in her, like she’s had in him.

River’s also doing this _for him_ though. Simon has no idea the depth of her feelings for Mal, or if she even has them at all. River thinks that it’s her job to do nice things for her brother because of all he’s done for her. Simon doesn’t want payment though, he just wants his sister and all the love she’s been giving him for so long, even in her letters when she was at the Academy.

He wants Mal’s love too. River can usually get what she wants, Simon isn’t so lucky. He doesn’t want Mal forced at him like this though, doesn’t want River to have a hand in this if it’s all just a lie.

River tears at his shirt and Simon tells the voice in his head to shut up and just let him live a little. River’s smirk comes across as more familiar than annoying.

* * *

Words fail him for longer than seems necessary.

Mal stands there, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. The words finally leave him in a rush that seems too forced, a lack of finesse that he regrets even before the sentence escapes. He doesn’t want to sound ungrateful. “What do you two think you’re doing?” It’s a weak question and he knows it, but he doesn’t want to play the bad guy here either and tell the two of them to get out. Not when River’s curled up in his bed showing Mal all there is to see, not when Mal finally notices that Simon is half naked and now sitting on the floor watching him, legs pulled up as if to shield himself and hands covering his nipples.

Not when Mal notices how amazing Simon looks, a lock of hair falling in front of his face, making him look all the more like some innocent virgin. He looks debauched too, with lips that are red and moist and his cheeks a bright pink. Mal feels like some ravenous lion when comparing himself next to a completely vulnerable looking Simon.

Yet River’s the master composer of this, the one who set this up despite the fact that she’s younger than the both of them. Mal never even thought she had her head together enough to even know what she wanted.

It certainly looks like she knows what she wants now. Next to River, Mal just looks completely lost, caught in her web.

Simon starts stuttering and gorram if it isn’t adorable. There’s just something so delectable about him there on the floor, as if Mal could eat him whole and that’s exactly what River is urging him to do. “We just... we just were wondering...?”

“If you’d like to join us,” River finishes the question. There’s nothing playful about her tone or posture now, instead she’s all seriousness, dark eyes and slow movements that could almost be mistaken for being shy. Mal knows she’s not shy though. He never suspected that River was in a relationship with her brother, but certain things fall into place now in a way he had never anticipated.

Mal does something unexpected then. River’s already kissed him before, on the mouth, sly tongue sneaking in between his teeth and hard mouth grinding against his own and making him feel hot and cold at the same time. He’s fantasized about kissing Simon before, or maybe fantasized isn’t the right word, and he can’t honestly believe that Simon’s still here, shaking like he is, staring hard at the floor as if Mal will reject him.

He’s rarely seen that fear in Simon before, never with River around or River as the topic of their argument. Mal sits down on the floor beside him, arm wrapping around Simon’s quivering shoulders. “River pushing you into this?”

Not a glance over at River, neither of them. This needs no trickery or manipulation from her, not even a small push.

“Nnn... no....” Mal slides a hand up into Simon’s hair and pulls his head closer then, kissing him senselessly, in the exact way that he had always pictured Simon kissing him. Mal rounding the corner and getting a mouthful of Simon. Mal throwing him another punch and Simon retaliating by jumping on him and kissing him so hard it hurt, hurt him so much in a way that no doctor should have the power to do. River watching close by as the two of them went at it with all their lust and all their fury, hands going for places she wanted a part of too.

If this was River’s end game all along, then Mal doesn’t think its half bad.

Simon’s a pretty gorram good kisser too.

* * *

River doesn’t mind being in the middle, not if it makes Simon less insecure about what he deserves, not if it makes Mal see that faith in himself isn’t everything. Her men have thick heads, yes, but it’s River’s job to put them in their place a little. River _loves_ her job.

Especially when Simon is lining himself up along her back and Mal is on her other side, one calloused hand brushing her hair back from her face and River stealing that hand and sucking on his thumb, kissing her way up his stomach and chest, mentally categorizing every part of him that’s ticklish and every battle scar that’s as beautiful to her as his eyes. She tilts her head back and shoots Simon a look, wanting to be thanked immediately. Her brother seems preoccupied however, and she lets it slide in favor of Simon kissing the back of her neck.

She smiles, knowing they have a pleasantly long and strenuous night ahead of them. Still, there’s nowhere else she’d rather be, no other two men she’d rather have undressing her. She doesn’t mind being in the middle, being a broken thing for one more time, not when they’re trying to kiss her back to life.

If this is dysfunctional, River thinks, then it just might work. 

**FIN**


End file.
